Pocono CSI: Workshop reveals clues to death investigations

Thursday

May 31, 2012 at 12:01 AM

How can you tell if physical abuse or something else killed a baby? What's an "excited delirium" death, and why does it worry police? How can the Internet be used in death investigations? These and other questions were answered during Wednesday's fifth annual Medicolegal Death Investigation Training Seminar at the Monroe Public Safety Center in Snydersville.

ANDREW SCOTT

How can you tell if physical abuse or something else killed a baby?

What's an "excited delirium" death, and why does it worry police? How can the Internet be used in death investigations?

These and other questions were answered during Wednesday's fifth annual Medicolegal Death Investigation Training Seminar at the Monroe Public Safety Center in Snydersville. More than 50 representatives from coroner's offices and law enforcement in Monroe, Northampton and Lehigh counties attended the seminar organized by Lehigh Coroner Scott Grimm with assistance from Monroe Coroner Bob Allen.

Allentown forensic pathologist Dr. Samuel Land, one of five speakers, said all infant deaths should be treated as homicides until causes and manners of death are determined. Land said, "This means forensic autopsies, including toxicology and radiology, should be performed in all cases. The police should be involved as soon as possible, and the bodies should be examined as early as possible."

Land said the government will require all Pennsylvania counties to have board-certified forensic pathologists within two years and that Monroe should get one.

"Today, 'shaken baby syndrome' no longer exists as a cause of death," Land said. The term is now blunt force trauma. Victims range from less than a year old to age 5.

"The common reason for this cause of death is new parents or other adults who are inexperienced with children, get fed up with the children constantly crying and don't know how to get them to stop," Land said. "Instead of having the sense to just put the baby down and walk away for a little while, they resort to violent means to get the baby to stop crying."

Signs of violence on a child's body include "grasp pattern" marks on the arms, slap bruises and defensive wounds on the hands from the child trying to shield him/herself from an adult's blows, Land said.

"But, not everything leaves marks," he said. "Someone can smother a child with a pillow and not leave a mark."

Grimm discussed excited delirium syndrome, a state induced by use of cocaine, PCP, other illegal drugs or low doses of psycho-stimulants. The victim displays crazed, violent behavior and indifference to physical pain and potentially fatal symptoms like hyperthermia.

Excited delirium syndrome can lead to sudden death, Grimm said. In most cases, someone experiencing EDS has to be restrained by medical personnel and/or police, who may have to use an electronic control device such as a Taser to subdue the person, he said.

"So, if police have to use a Taser on someone experiencing EDS and that person suddenly dies afterward, their death is from EDS, not from the Taser," Grimm said. "A Taser constitutes less-than-lethal force, but the loved ones of the deceased aren't going to understand that. They're going to think police caused the death, and so these cases can lead to costly lawsuits for the criminal justice system."

Police must conduct a thorough investigation, including a forensic autopsy with toxicology tests and a radiology survey, to show using the Taser was justified and did not cause the death, Grimm said.

Kelly Gillis, chief deputy coroner in Northampton County and a deputy coroner in Lehigh and Berks counties, said it's important for someone who discovers skeletal remains to not touch anything and immediately contact police.

"You don't want to contaminate what could be a homicide scene because, once you do, it's impossible for police to reconstruct that scene," she said.

The effects of ground and weather conditions, climate, temperature changes and other factors are considered as well as fractures and physical features on the remains themselves, Gillis said. If remains are found outdoors, the search area is usually expanded in all directions to allow for animals possibly having dragged off parts of the body, she said.

Bethlehem Police Officer and Lehigh County Deputy Coroner Samuel Del Rosario discussed using the Internet in death investigations.

"Everything you do is Internet-related," Del Rosario said. "Whether you create an account online, pay for something online or do a Google search, it's all monitored, and records of whatever you do stay on the Internet and can be traced."

That's how investigators were able to charge Scott Peterson of Modesto, Calif., in his missing wife's 2002 murder, Del Rosario said. Peterson's computer contained a map of the island where his wife's body was later found, along with records of him shopping online for a boat, studying water currents and how to make an anchor and buying a gift for his mistress.

Peterson was tried in 2004, convicted and sentenced in 2005 to death. His case is on appeal.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.